akabob

I have this one on today. This is a fun scent because it morphs all over the place and then settles into a really sexy sweet smell that kind of floats around me. My office smells like a cartoon princess lives in it. At first, the oil smelled like Luden's Cherry throat lozenges in the imp vial. AWESOME. I love those things, and eat them by the boxful, to many people's horror. I was thinking, this is going to make me smell like an apothecary! But, NO. When I put it on, the smell evolved immediately. I could smell woody smells. Nothing green. This was a smell of pure, polished, clean wood. This is when the smell is at its fullest...the wood mixes with the tart of the cherry and currant and it almost smells like chocolate cherries mixed with oil paint and wood panels. Forgive me, I'm a painter. Then it fades, and I'm left with this cartoon princess smell...the smell of my old My Little Ponies and Jem dolls. The smell of my Strawberry Shortcake doll. Sweet, faint, sugary tart goodness. I think it is currant and not cherry...the cherry was far different. Fun! A rollercoaster of a smell.

This one has a weird evocative quality to it. For those of you lucky enough to live near the Apple Farm in San Luis Obispo, go stand in the gift shop lobby early in the morning when they're making pastry. Take in a deep breath. That smell, of spice, syrupy dark berry swirling with nutmeg and flour and the smell of the potpourri (crushed roses) in the gift shop is exactly what this perfume FEELS like to me. It is the weirdest sensation being transplanted right back to one of my favorite places. As a smell itself, the scent is really warm and comforting but in no way sexy to me. It has all the makings of a warm evening under a blanket - the roses are warm, spicy roses...the black currant is a thick, spicy mass of syrupy goodness that floats on top of the roses like a floater, and the pastry of the tart is a nice top note that provides an initial weight to the oil that eventually fades and lets the rose and currant mingle with spice. It is a really nice cozy scent.

I put this on the other night to go clubbing. In my "manfriend's" words, it smells like a teenage girl. Bubblegum and lollipops with just a tiny tiny tiny touch of something slightly ladylike that only pops up in the beginning. This has a weird...nostalgic effect on my nostrils, taking me back to when I was a teen girl, eating BloPops every day at school and tasting that change from hard cherry candy to soft sugary bubblegum. I felt really almost naughty wearing this, and had a blast getting odd glances from men periodically when I'd dance past. Has a nice throw on my skin that ust kind of floated around me, creating a little halo of sticky candy that shifted as I moved. I think I may pick up a bottle of this next paycheque. I'm surprisingly in love.

I tried this one on yesterday and I was surprised by how much it smells like incense! In the bottle I could really smell the cakes more than the incense, but when I put it on, the incense swirled its way to the front. Every time I got in my car, I could smell this gorgeous, faint sweet and flowery incense. I hate florals most of the time, but this one is just sweet and smokey enough to kick the cloying scent out of the floral and really gives it a sweet, gentle incensey smell. Very comforting and gentle scent.

This scent is awesome. It reminds me of walking into this store in Long Beach that sells desserts and caramel apples...it is that sweet that has a little tart in it that sneaks into the high parts of your nose while the sticky caramel stays most prominent. I smell exactly like a caramel apple for the first 30 minutes, but later when the scent really settles, I pick up a bit of that coconut rum scent. Mmmm. This one is going to get some heavy wear.

Shanghai is an interesting smell for me. I sniffed it in the imp and was a little put off by the grapefruity/green teaness of it. It reminded me of this green tea-based perfume sample my grandma was getting from Estee Lauder, so I put it away for a bit and tried all the other goodies I received. Coming back this morning to my pile of imps and bottles, I decided to put it on since I would be teaching little kids this afternoon and didn't think my usual slather of Red Lantern or Cockaigne would be good for little noses. It is a really clean, fresh scent. I'm glad the lemon verbena is in there to kick the other notes down a little, because I don't like that weird fakey green tea scent. To me, green tea should smell really....more like leaves and less like fake sugary green. Anyhow, the verbena gives it a nice citrusy/green scent. It is a REALLY citrusy scent to me...very much reminds me of these Japanese lemon sours I eat called SUPER LEMON!!! They're a little "off" from the standard american lemon flavor...and taste a lot like this perfume oil smells. Anyhow, this will go in to my pile of imps to send off with packages or will be given to a girl at school I give imps to when I think she'll like them.

I tried this one last night. Let me preface with the fact that usually I hate hate hate flowers and hate any perfume that has florals in it. Well, I put this one on, and LOVED IT. This is a gorgeous scent. It smells EXACTLY like the description...dead flowers, indeed! Oh they're wonderful. This scent evokes a powerful memory of a crown I made as a little girl....dead roses, branches of garden plants and some hemp rope. Very evocative and soft. I'm actually sooo enamored I might get a 5ml of this one. Who'd have thunk?! I'm a total foodie queen and yet Zombi has me falling. I think it is because the dead flowers have a more....antiqued scent. I like that they're NOT fresh and cloying. They're light and dried and very much have that little sad sweetness of death that roses get once they've dried out. TRY THIS. Even if you hate flowers. You will probably love it as much as I did.

This works well on my skin, I guess. It IS very sandalwoody, but I think the myrrh keeps it from going the way of the hippy. I DO agree with some of the other reviews...If only there was a touch more of the cocoa scent in there for a bit longer. It smells insanely beautiful at first, and then tapers off into a pretty but less stunning scent. I really like it...it reminds me of Catholic churches for some reason. Maybe the incense from my childhood church was myrrh. Not 5ml bottle material...unless I can find a cocoa scent to mix with it....mweeheeheee

I got this one for the honey mead, and...well, I smell like honey mead! This is a potent scent. Wow. It does something deep inside my body when I inhale...almost the same feeling I get when I put Red Lantern on and the smell kind of makes my head spin a little because it really has that woozy scent. This one is a more sugary version of that wooziness. It has warmed up a bit since I put it on...making it very incensey on my skin. Initially, it was ALL honey. Thick, gloppy, dizzying amounts of honey and booze. Now I have a touch of honey and a lot of resiny-sweet spice. I like it. I don't like it enough to get a 5ml (I doubt I'd use it all....this one has throw on me), but I will definitely be using it for evening occasions.

This is gorgeous. I bought this one for my manfriend, mostly because he fancies himself a pirate. I am sooo glad I got it...it smells just like I'd imagine him smelling after months of piracy. The rum is gorgeous...like Captain Morgan's spiced rum, it has a nice sweet spicy scent that really sets off the leather note wonderfully! The initial scent is definitely oceanic...it smelled a little prettier than seawaters I'm used to, but still had that aquatic kind of scent in my nose. Once it burned off (after about 15 quick quick seconds), the scent warmed up like a pirate ship in the sun, and I got all of the wonderful rummy, leathery, woody scents. Very sexy in a woozy, wild kind of way. Definitely perfect for the pirates in the forum. My man will looove this one. I know I do.

This smelled lovely in the bottle, but as soon as I put it on, it turned to baby powderrrr!!!! Waaahhhh. I wanted to love it. I got the 5ml without trying it. I even left it on for the past few hours to let it simmer, hoping it would help cut the baby powder scent. Alas, no. I'm putting this one up for sale so Snake Oil fans can enjoy it. I see why people love it...in the bottle the scent is rich, sugared incense and has a beautiful allure. I just wish my skin would love it.

I tried this one earlier today. I ended up frimping it to a friend of mine after I tried it...it was just too green. The rosemary went wild on me and I ended up smelling like my parents' backyard which is rife with wild rosemary. After a half-hour it finally dried down to a soft rose that was barely noticeable with just a tiny touch of what I suppose was the orange blossom. Not a scent for me...definitely one for women who love herby, garden scents. This is light and reminds me of walking through the roses with handfuls of rosemary. Very old-world. Which I guess is appropriate, given the inspiration for the perfume!

I tried this 3 times before reviewing. What I'm not saying is that I was so turned on by my skin smelling so good that I ended up distracted by much sniffing on my own behalf. I literally cannot stop sniffing myself ALL DAY when this is on. Which is tough, because I have to sneak sniffs when my college mates aren't looking, or I'll look like a loon. Anyway, this smells gorgeous. It isn't how I imagined it would smell on me. I had imagined something with less lavender fougere, but I am glad I can smell more of it. The vanilla is beautiful. Nothing artificial on my skin...I think the tea and musk and touch of lemon keep it from going nuts. The scent is androgynous. I don't get "man" or "woman" from the scent at all. I feel like I need to put a suit on, slick my hair down with pomade, and take a walking stick to the backside of a girly boy. Yep. Needless to say, this smell is the perfect balance of sweet and just a littttle tang with a nice soothing whiff of the beautiful fougere. Not TOO lavendery...it has more of a creamy scent in this mixture. The tea is hard to find on my skin....not surprising...my skin LOVES vanilla and burns everything else off quick. LOVE LOVE LOVE this one. My poor manfriend is in for a shocking evening if he gets into this vial.

I just got this in a handful of frimps from a fellow BPALer, and man am I glad she sent it. This will be my next bottle. The first impression was not as strong as the dry down. I do not like almond. It reminds me of Jergens lotion. But after the almond burns off my skin, I get this amazing, warm and sexy spice that permeates the air around me. It literally smells like I rubbed resins all over my body. Warm, spicy and sweet with just enough of a floral/herby incense smell to keep it balanced. It is NOT floral, but there is something in the spices that has a little greener of a scent than the rest of the spice. And man do I like the overall scent. I smell sooo sexy. This makes me feel amazing. I had the WORST day ever today and now I feel like a goddess. This may be a multiple bottle buy for me. <3 it. Give it a shot, foodies. I love foody scents, and this is NOT foody, but this definitely will appeal to any foody scent lovers who are suckers for a nice sweet spice.

This oil got tested on both my man's skin and my own skin. Whoa what a difference in the way our skins picked up this complex scent. I loved this on my boy. Not nearly so much on my skin until the dry down. Here is how it smelled on me: First, the vetiver comes off the strongest, with clove kind of woven in. About 30 minutes after it dried down it settled in and the vetiver burned off and I could smell the clove and what I think was the vanilla and honey and wine heating up a little bit. It warmed to a beautiful kind of spiced sweetness that wasn't foody-sweet at all. This is definitely going to be saved for special events in the evening...as it made me feel very sexy...I just have to wait for that 30 minutes to pass so that pesky vetiver doesn't make me smell all astringent. On my man's skin: Oh my gods. What a difference. His skin immediately pulled up all the sticky sweetness of this scent and the vetiver just warmed it up a touch. I think this is because my boy has very sweet skin scent naturally...he tends to make everything smell sweet like a cookie. This scent smelled so sexy on him..very spicy, like a mulled wine with a touch of honey swirled into the scent. The vetiver on his skin ended up being just the right balance to keep the smell from being too girly for his taste, and I am pretty sure he'll be getting into this imp in the future.

I tried this the other day on the way into the shower. My skin has learned through trying both this and Blood Kiss that my body reacts in a very strong way to vetiver. The minute I put a dab on, the whole room was filled with that herby, medicinal green scent of vetiver. It was like nothing else in the oil existed! I guess vetiver isn't for me...too much herbal scent makes my nose tingle. I imagine this scent being worn by a powerful, dominant woman or a strong man. Either way, this is definitely a scent that oozes strength and a wildness. I might frimp this to a lady friend of mine who is very in to herbal, woody scents. I think I've learned my lesson with vetiver! Me + vetiver = toooo strong.

I got this as a freebie in my recent order of lab goodies. Smelling it first in the imp, I knew I would have a hard time loving it because my skin makes reallly floral scents go all wonky..I am more compatible with sticky sweet scents. But, I gave it a shot because the smell was very sweet and gentle and familiar. It is floral for sure...not sure what, though. I want to say something like violets or gardenias is in the scent...it is a wistful floral, not a happy one. Very soothing in the way that it smells like grandmas should...cuddly, warm grandmas. It proceeded to go all gardenia smelling on me, which isn't something my nose loves, but I knew my mom would like it, so off it went to her. She smelled it an immediately went "ooooh! beautiful and gentle!" She also loved black opal, which has that similar kind of back end to the smell that is sweet and clear. Not for me, but very pretty.

Oh I just got my bottle today and I am soooo glad I got a bottle. This is so nummy. In the bottle: Smells like that glaze they put on hot cross buns or sweet cakes. Inhaling deep, I get a whiff of what I assume is the red wine hiding down in the scent. It has a nice deep back end to the smell that totally reminds me of a heavy red wine. Wet: There is something in the scent that has a little spice to it. I smell what reminds me of sweet cakes with a touch of cinnamon or nutmeg sprinkled on them. Very warm and sweet, but not cloying and certainly not artificial at all. This smells like walking into a bakery. Dry: Oh it softens into a gorgeous, sugary spiced cake on me. Literally like apple pie crust or something. I still smell some of the wine note...I think it is what keeps the scent from being food overkill. I like that the scent has complexity to it; each note has a very specific part in the scent. I will definitely be buying more bottles. This is totally something I plan on slathering all over, even though the throw is pretty decent for a food scent. MMM.

March Hare really reminds me of those awesome old school apricot fruit rollups. Not the new kind that are tiny and lame, the old ones that are big and smell like spiced apricot. From on my neck I can smell the apricot more so than on my wrist...on my wrist I get a really awesome spicy, warm clove with a bit of sweetness. Wet it was more clovey and potpourri scented than on the skin...I am glad it dried down to a more skin-appropriate scent, as I don't like smelling like my mom's bathroom sprays. It softened quite nicely and kept its scent for a long time. Not tooo much throw, but just enough that I could smell it when I moved about. This isn't a scent I'd wear all the time, but it is definitely a beauty to keep for cozy days with hot cider and a blanket!

I got this as a frimp from maijasu. I would NEVER have tried it, but I'm glad I did, as it is a very pretty scent. Not me, exactly, but as it turns out, I know my best friend will ADORE it. I'll keep my imp and wear it and enjoy it, but my best friend will definitely be getting a 5ml for part of her wedding gift! In the imp: Juicy, sweet, almost sparkling peaches. Wet: This smells like peach jolly ranchers and riesling wine on me. The peach wine is really dominant and stands out as a honeyed peach wine. Very strong throw initially. Dry: Aglaea dries down to a gentle peach with warm, soft amber popping up from the back. Very pretty. The amber spices up the peach just enough to make it smell less like jolly rancher and more like standing in an orchard on a hot day with a chilled glass of white wine. Lovely.

I got 2 imps of this on good faith that, when it comes to including ALL of my favorite food items in one oil, this would HAVE to be perfect for me. I only wish I could get my hands on a full bottle. Or three or ten. In the imp: Pure sugary goodness. I almost dropped the imp all over myself in a sugary burst of joy. Wet on skin: Barely there. A few more generous dabs later and I'm getting sweet candy and baked sugar delight. Dry: I thought it had vanished. I couldn't smell much until I got into the store for a brekkie treat and smelled cinnamon buns and funnel cake. After buying a cinnamon bun, I sniffed the package and got nothing. It was ME! I'm still getting random whiffs of funnel cake and the occasional cinnamony fruit and caramel apple notes. I love cotton candy more than anything. I do. This is like wearing carny treats. I smell good enough to eat and all I want to do is gorge on sweets all day. God help my friends and family if I ever get a bottle of this, because it is going all over the place.

I got this as a frimp with a little left over to try from Neuilly, so I decided to try it out today while bored at work. In the imp: Very caramelly, with just a little something incensy coming out. Wet on me: Wow. This had some CRAZY throw. After trying Jack last night and barely detecting anything from a distance until I slathered a little more on, putting BARELY a dab of this on has scented my whole office. It smells really awesome, almost like this store I love buying incense and other goodies in. Really, incensy and supersweet. It is almost TOO much, even for my food and incense loving nose. There is just enough opium in it to cut the caramel down and help balance the coconut. On dry down: STILL has throw. Softens a little to let the tobacco note come up, but I'm still getting mostly caramel and opium. Fine by me. I like how the opium works on my skin. Overall, this scent is gorgeous, but I'd never need more than an imp's worth to last me a few months. Definitely a special occasion scent for me. And yes, it IS "pretty." ADDED June 20: I never got around to posting my review of this...at least I can't recall. Needless to say, since receiving a bottle through another member I have become hooked. This is the kind of smell that epitomizes lazy, woozy sexuality. When I wear it, people come up a little closer to get a sniff and ask me what I have on, and my hyper-smell-sensitive boyfriend flips out over it. The notes that stand out most are probably the opium and the caramel with the tobacco and amber coming in behind it. I don't really pick up any floral smell from the delphinium, and that is fine with me. It smells like burning sugar, smokey opium and sticky caramel on me. Red Lantern is hands down everything I'd ever want in a perfume...it is sweet, but not in that annoying cotton candy way, and it causes strange reactions in strangers trying to sniff me. The oil lasts nearly all day and night, and if I put too much on, it is almost dizzying...very opiate-esque. The perfect smell for putting helpless people under your spell. <3

I have to admit, when I first sniffed this in the imp, I was worried it would smell horrible on me. The scent is positively overpowering to my nose in the imp...and smelled mostly like really buttery pumpkin without any spice. However...putting it on and giving it about 5 minutes to soak in, the scent went from nauseatingly buttery to spicy warm pumpkin bread goodness. I sighed when I realized the scent was going to work just fine. The drier it gets on my skin, the more I can smell the amazing clove meandering through the other notes. It seems to be the most amped note in the oils on my skin, and smells kind of like a mix of pumpkin bread and sniffing my boy's clove ciggie boxes when he's not looking. Definitely a "sleeper" scent. I'm glad I gave it a fair shot...I really love this scent. It reminds me of going to the Apple Farm in San Luis Obispo during the holiday season...that warm holiday store smell around Thanksgiving when everything is kissed with spice.

In the bottle: I think what I picked up most was the currant. It definitely smelled like a sweet, sticky cherry syrup that had been splashed with liqueur. Sweet, but not childish. Wet: Oh man. The amaretto gives the fruit this awesome, sexual scent to it. I'm picking up the boozy note, but only lightly. I smell mostly currants, plum, and amaretto bleeding through. This has a nice throw...I put barely a dab on and I can smell my self just enough to think I smell darn good. Dry: An hour later I'm in love. The name of the scent is perfect for how it smells on me; I smell like I ate sticky, fruity desserts with my hands and then spilled my port wine on my petticoat. Amazing. This is definitely going on my 5ml to buy list.